Sad Hill Media

Film & Lesser Arts with Will Ross, Devan Scott, & Daniel Jeffery.

Jun 17, 2009

The Hangover (2009)

by Will Ross
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It’s been the trend in comedy hits for most of the decade: Men in their 30s and 40s bring out their inner animal and party hard, reclaiming youthful excess. But with high school and high-concept comedies making a resurgence, those movies seems to be on their way out the door, and it’s likely that The Hangover will be one of the last to achieve hit status.

If that turns out to be true, there’s no better person to direct it than Todd Philips, whose 2003 film Old School paved the way for movies like Anchorman and Wedding Crashers. But while Old School was essentially about three good-hearted guys looking to reclaim their youth and get away from the monotony of their daily lives, The Hangover sometimes comes across as a little mean-spirited.

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The premise of the film has three men – Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) – taking their friend Paul to Las Vegas for his bachelor party. A few accidentally taken date-rape pills and one wild night later, they wake up with no recollection of the last night. Worse, Paul is nowhere to be found. The bulk of the film has the three men unraveling the mystery of what happened the night before to find Paul and get him to the wedding on time.

Though its plot is structured as a mystery, The Hangover is at its best when the trio happen across something so absurd that they can’t imagine how it came to be, and so the plot’s unraveling isn’t nearly as entertaining as the film’s early and middle parts. How did that get in their room? In their car’s trunk? Why are people shooting at them? Their complete obliviousness to what they did the last night to cause these things, let alone deserve them, provides some of the biggest laughs.

Most of the other laughs are stolen by Alan, a social misfit idiot whose character goes no further than these two traits but, like any well-written fool, delivers most of the film’s best lines. Stu, a well-meaning but nervous and weak dentist, serves as the group’s conscience, and his fear of his abusive, controlling wife also makes him the most panicked of the bunch, giving Alan a run for his money as he hysterically suggests extreme measures to destroy the evidence of their night. Phil, however, is easily the weakest character. Serving little purpose other than a foil for Stu’s reluctance and Alan’s childishness, he’s not likeable in the slightest. In fact, he’s an out and out jerk, and the fact that he’s saddled with the worst dialogue and fewest comic moments makes him the least enjoyable. Brad Cooper plays the jackass with gusto – as he did in Wedding Crashers – but here, as a member of a group that’s supposed to be sympathetic, he needs some likable trait (or at least some funny dialogue) to really endear him to the audience and complete the ensemble.

But if it’s hard to like Phil, a part of that has to come from the fact that the film as a whole seems to subscribe to his code – and that’s where the really uncomfortable parts of The Hangover occur. Like so much comedy of our time, the men are seen as fun guys looking for good times, and the women they’re committed to are uptight, demanding, and cold. This is most prominently displayed with Stu. He discovers that he had an intense fling with a stripper named Jade (Heather Graham) during that lost evening, and over the course of the film she is idealized. Earlier, the characters comment on Stu's wife, mentioning that “She beats him.” This line is played for laughs, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world for a man to beat a woman, but a woman beating a man is just silly.

Like any other comedy of its ilk, The Hangover will ultimately be judged and remembered based on the most memorably absurd set pieces and how many lines from the film you’ll be quoting with your friends for days, even weeks after seeing the movie. On that level, The Hangover delivers decently, with a fair scattering of gems in its dialogue, a police taser demonstration to children in which the protagonists act as test subjects, and even a scene that has them playing chauffeur to a wildcat, a la Bringing Up Baby. But its treatment of gender, character, and absurdly escalating situations are nowhere near the strength or consistency it needs to place in range of such a screwball classic, making The Hangover a fun, but forgettable, summer distraction.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

booo, i loved phil

Christina said...

Seems like you enjoyed it more than I did. I think for me, I wasn't amused by the premise, so the jokes following "Oh, we don't remember!" fell somewhat flat on me. I do agree with your assessment of Phil too; if he was likable at all, it was only because he was the most attractive face of the men (and that doesn't count for much).

Anonymous said...

"Phil, however, is easily the weakest character. Serving little purpose other than a foil for Stu’s reluctance and Alan’s childishness, he’s not likeable in the slightest. In fact, he’s an out and out jerk, and the fact that he’s saddled with the worst dialogue and fewest comic moments makes him the least enjoyable. "

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on Phil. He was my favourite character. I thought he was so funny.

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